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Popular interest in Mars, the ‘Red Planet’, is long-established, but has enjoyed two
dramatic flowerings, one in the 1890s and the other a century later.
B. Any speculation about life on Mars, then or now, is part of a long discussion on ‘the
plurality of worlds’. Pluralists believe that there are other worlds apart from ours
which contain life — an idea that had its origins in classical Greece. In the 19th
century, the new science of astrophysics suggested that large numbers of stars in the
sky were similar to the sun in their composition — perhaps they too were circled by
planetary systems. Nearer to home Mars, our neighbour in the solar system, seemed
to offer the evidence the pluralists had lacked until then.
C. The characteristics of Mars’ orbit are such that its distance from Earth varies
considerably — from 34.5 to 234.5 million miles. From an astronomer’s standpoint it
was particularly well-placed for observation in 1877, 1892 and 1909. Observations in
each of these years intensified discussion about possible life on Mars.
D. If life, intelligent or otherwise, were to be found on Mars then life on Earth would not
be unique. The scientific, theological and cultural outcomes of such a discovery could
be stupendous. In 1859, Fr. Angelo Secchi, director of the Vatican observatory and a
confirmed pluralist, observed markings on the surface of Mars which he described
as canali, ‘channels’. The fateful word had been launched on its career, although
there was little immediate development from Secchi’s work.
H. While the observers exchanged reports and papers, the popularisers got to work.
They were generally restrained at first. The British commentator Richard Proctor
thought that the canals might be rivers; he was among the first to suggest that a
Martian canal would have to be ‘fifteen or twenty miles broad’ to be seen from Earth.
The leading French pluralist, Camille Flammarion, published his definitive La Planete
Mars in 1892: ‘the canals may be due ... to the rectification of old rivers by the
inhabitants for the purpose of the general distribution of water ...’. Other
commentators supposed the ‘canals’ might be an optical illusion, a line first advanced
by the English artist Nathaniel Green, teacher of painting to Queen Victoria and an
amateur astronomer.
I. The canals debate might have levelled off at this point had it not been for the
incursion of its most prominent controversialist — and convinced pluralist — Percival
Lowell. Lowell, an eminent Bostonian, entered the astronomical argument after a
career in business and diplomacy, mainly in the Orient. He may not have brought an
entirely objective mind to the task. Even before he started observing he had
announced that the canals were probably ‘the work of some sort of intelligent beings’.
J. The newly-arrived popular press was very willing to report Lowell’s findings and
views; canal mania grew apace. By 1910 Lowell had reported over 400 canals
with.an average length of 1,500 miles. He wrote plausibly about the Martian
atmosphere and the means by which the canals distributed water from Mars polar
caps to irrigate the planet before evaporation returned moisture to the poles. This
water cycle appealed to popular evolutionism which perceived Mars as an old, dying
world trying to avert its fate by rational and large-scale engineering — this was, after
all, an age of great canals: Panama, Dortmund-Ems, Manchester, Corinth.
Questions 1-2
2. What circumstance helped astronomers to study Mars in the late 19th century?
Questions 3-8
Look at the following lists of astronomers and thinkers (Questions 3-8) and ideas about Mars
(A-I). Match each astronomer with the idea or ideas he expressed.
NB There are more ideas than astronomers and thinkers, so you will not need to use
them all.
A A particular geographical feature of Mars has disappeared.
B People think they can see canals, but they do not really exist.
E The canali are used to carry water from colder areas to warmer areas.
3 Schiapareili ..........
4 Perrotin ..........
5 Proctor ..........
6 Flammarion ..........
7 Green ..........
8 Lowell ..........
Questions 9-14
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
9 Discussion about whether there is life on Mars forms part of a long tradition. ..........
10 The belief that life existed on Mars was encouraged by a translation error. ..........
11 The limitations of 19th century technology encouraged the idea that there were
canals on Mars. ..........
12 All Lowell's statements about Mars were based on what he was able to see. ..........
15 Lowell's theory about how canals on Mars were used may have been inspired by
fashionable ideas of the time. ..........